Household Chemicals Storage Register

Who this is for

Every chemical in the house, where it is and who could reach it. Go cupboard by cupboard and shed by shed, copy the warnings from each label, and tick whether the product is in its own container, capped and locked away or up high.

Parents and grandparents of young children, households with visiting children or vulnerable adults, and anyone who has just found a bottle with no label under the sink.

What this helps you track

• Every cleaning, laundry, garden, DIY and car product in the home
• Where each one is kept, location by location
• The warnings and mixing cautions printed on each label
• Whether it is in its own container, capped and out of reach
• What needs moving, replacing or taking away

How to use it

1. Write the household, your name, today's date and the poisons information number for where you live.
2. Work through one location at a time: under the sink, the utility, the bathroom, the garage, the shed and the car.
3. Give each product a line, copy the hazard words and any do-not-mix warning from its label, and tick the three storage columns honestly.
4. Write the fix in the action column for anything unticked, then work down the checklist before you finish.
5. Keep the sheet by the phone or fill it in online; the browser version saves in your own browser.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The online version keeps what you enter in your own browser and builds the completed PDF on your device.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

What do I write in the hazard words column?

The warning words printed on the label, such as the signal word and what it says the product can do. Copy them as written. The sheet adds no hazard information of its own; the label and the maker are the source.

Why does the original container matter?

The original container carries the label, the warnings and the instructions for what to do if something goes wrong. A product poured into a drinks bottle or an unmarked tub loses all of that and is easily mistaken for something else.

Where do I find the poisons information number?

Your country or region has its own poisons information or emergency service. Look it up now, while nothing is wrong, write it at the top and keep the sheet where you would reach for it.

How is this different from the chemical and COSHH stock register?

That register is for workplaces: it counts stock, values it and checks data sheets. This one is for a home and is about where each product is kept and whether a child or visitor could get to it.